Chapter 76

When the Lecashe couple and the kids showed no sign of moving from their corner, one noble worked up the nerve and drifted over.

A husband and wife with friendly, easy faces.

A few others followed and approached Iberin and Lyssel too.

Lyssel handled it more smoothly than expected.

He wasn't talkative, but he didn't brush off anyone who spoke to him either.

The warm mood held all the way through.

But there's always someone who muddies the water.

"Have you all forgotten? Lecashe is cursed. They're only fawning over them right now because of the ijet."

She'd thought Lady Bilson had cleared out all of them, but no.

There were troublemakers wherever you went.

The bright little smile, as if to insist I'm not attacking anyone, was infuriating.

Lyssel's face cooled, and he looked at the noble.

The noble flinched for a beat, then jutted his chin up like he was being bold.

"Stand around like this and what happens when the curse rubs off on you?"

Iberin had heard this so many times that it didn't even get a rise out of her anymore.

"And bringing up illegitimate directly like that — honestly, that isn't very noble."

"What does noble mean to you, exactly?"

Lyssel asked, looking at him.

"I was smiling, and you're being awfully aggressive about it. I don't see why."

"Are you the kind of idiot who thinks smiling automatically makes someone polite?"

When Iberin said it, the noble's brows knit.

"What exactly have I done?"

He looked genuinely indignant.

He didn't seem to see everyone else around him hedging, eyes flicking nervously.

"Setting that aside — what is the noble way? Are you telling us we should've just let people misunderstand?"

"Do I really have to spell that out? I suppose nobility in name only would need it laid out, wouldn't they."

What on earth was driving him.

He was crass past the point of crass.

The other nobles, who'd at first paused at the mention of curses, were now wincing at what he was saying.

In the end one of the nobles who'd come up earlier stepped in to shut him down.

"Stop. This is unpleasant to watch."

"Ha — you're checking me?"

"No. You're going too far."

"In what way? And you, a baron, are stepping in on a count?"

His face filled with contempt as he said it, and the noble who'd intervened looked properly offended.

Now that she thought about it, she didn't recall ever seeing this noble at the Lecashe party.

"The ijet's all gone now anyway, isn't it? No need to keep flattering them either, right? And these strange foods they've been peddling lately — eat one and end up cursed, that's—!"

"Are you cursing me now? Saying eat them and drop dead?"

It was Lady Bilson.

She must have come over because this corner was loud, and stopped when she saw the situation.

"Eggs and Cheongyangs happen to be my favorite ingredients these days!"

"…That wasn't my intention. But you really ought to be concerned about your health."

The noble wouldn't drop his stance.

A smooth smile didn't actually mean someone was smooth — there was no way Lady Bilson missed it.

"Honestly. I'm a marquis's daughter."

"Excuse me?"

"I have my own personal physician, and we have a temple. If there were a problem, a priest could handle the treatment, and as a matter of fact I get a checkup every week."

"B-but."

"A curse? The temple priests have never said anything of the kind. You're not going to claim the temple is wrong, are you?"

Only then did the noble go silent.

As a citizen of the Aleta Holy Empire, he could not, would not, disparage the temple.

His shoulders sagged, and he was about to slip away —

When Lyssel stopped him.

The noble flinched at the hand on his shoulder.

"Wh-what! Y-you going to hit me?!"

"No. I'm telling you something."

"What."

"There's more ijet."

"What?!"

The noble's eyes went huge.

"You keep talking like Lecashe is nothing without the ijet — but what happens if there's more of it?"

Lyssel asked it like he was genuinely curious.

"Did you think only two pieces of ijet were ever found? That would actually be the strange part."

He gave a small smile as he said it.

That was the end of it, but his tone had a there's more, so shut up edge, and the buzz through the crowd swelled even louder than before.

Iberin stared at Lyssel, who had just stirred up the room.

She was the one who normally caused the scenes.

"Lyssel…."

Her voice was startled, but there was a thread of laughter in it.

She liked that Lyssel — who'd always seemed so used to swallowing things — wasn't swallowing anymore.

And it was kind of cute too.

Getting fired up and going your house doesn't have a mine, does it. Well, mine does. Made her think of a kid puffing herself up.

---

The noble who'd been picking fights went pale and ran off.

On top of that, Lady Bilson — who'd been the one she expected to smooth things over — had a gleam in her eye as she asked if there really was more ijet.

In short, it was chaos.

She hadn't planned to reveal it, honestly, but since it had come to this, it wasn't a bad outcome.

The more ijet there was, the more nobles would want to stay on Lecashe's good side just to get their hands on a piece.

Even if their motives were ulterior, that was fine.

Used properly, it would benefit both sides.

"It's true. There's a mine."

"Oh my, oh my. So there's a lot of it."

"…There is."

"Are you considering selling any more, by chance?"

"Not yet, but who knows about the future."

"That noble from earlier is in deep trouble, then, isn't he? Ohoho!"

Lady Bilson laughed brightly.

"Well — Lecashe doesn't really hold onto those things. It depends on what that noble does."

"You're very magnanimous."

She had no intention of accepting whatever he did, but she played it that way.

"Anyway, between the Grand Duke and Duchess, you've surprised me several times today."

"My apologies for that."

Lyssel said quietly.

"Ohoho — I think I might be the only noble who's been apologized to by both members of the Grand Ducal couple. Should I take it as an honor?"

The couple went quiet.

Lady Bilson waved her hands quickly and added,

"I'm not being sarcastic — I mean it. I'm genuinely delighted. Goodness, I never imagined Grand Duke Lecashe would be this kind of person."

"This kind?"

"I saw you at the Lecashe party too, and you came across as so reserved and imposing — but in person you're more approachable than I'd thought. Just with Lady Iberin, mind. Isn't that right?"

She'd hit it exactly.

Lyssel was still cool as ice in front of anyone else.

But the moment Iberin entered the picture he was an entirely different person.

If that noble from earlier hadn't dragged Lecashe into it and gone after Iberin, Lyssel might have let it slide.

Of course, Iberin wouldn't have let him slide if he had.

"You're an absolute doting husband, aren't you!"

"Doting husband?"

A word he didn't know — Lyssel paused.

"Now that I think about it, you only smile when you're looking at Lady Iberin."

Lyssel had once looked uncomfortable even smiling, but he smiled easily now.

Whenever he looked at Iberin, a smile just happened.

He didn't have the presence of mind to worry about whether he was smiling enough.

He smiled at the kids sometimes too, but it was mostly looking at Iberin.

The other nobles nearby nodded along, eyes gleaming with interest.

They'd clearly worked out that the way to Lyssel was through Iberin.

Compared to the previous Lecashe couples, this one was on good terms — that much was clear.

"Now that I think about it, Lady Iberin, you haven't really been involved in society at all before, have you?"

"Oh — that's true."

That was only because Iberin back then hadn't been the Iberin of now.

Lyssel believed Iberin had lost her memories.

But the nobles, who didn't know that, drew a very deep misunderstanding from it.

"He must have cherished you so much!"

The nobles narrowed their eyes and smiled, thinking who-knew-what.

"And yet you're this sharp — if you'd been active sooner, you'd have been incredible."

"Haha."

Iberin just laughed.

---

There were incidents along the way, but they'd had a genuinely good time on the whole.

After spending some time inside, they moved out to the garden.

You could feel how much care Lady Bilson had put into it.

There was no electricity here, and yet somehow the garden glittered in every color.

It was like Christmas tree lights strung up.

Ijet glowed in the dark too, but this had a whole spectrum.

"Wow!"

Iberin was only mildly surprised, but the other nobles had clearly never seen anything like it — they stared blankly and peppered Lady Bilson with questions.

She answered with a satisfied smile.

"It's magic. They put light into the stones. They were a touch expensive, but if you have the money, you can get them."

Her tone was aimed pretty directly at the ijet.

Glowing stones — the parallel was right there.

"The wizard who made these magic gems is staying in our territory, so I'd recommend commissioning some."

She wondered if ijet would glow like this if set this way.

Iberin smiled at her own indulgent thought.

"It's lovely out here, too."

It was like fireflies on a riverbank, maybe.

Something about it felt strangely Korean, which made her like it even more.

A faint ache of homesickness slipped in.

She was sweeping her gaze around, lingering for a while, when —

"Iberin!"

"Yes?"

Lyssel suddenly called her, loudly.

When she looked up, startled, Lyssel was watching her with a worried expression.

"Your face — it looked strange."

"My face?"

"It just had this odd quality, like you might disappear."

"Where would I go?"

She must have been a little too deep in memory.

She'd be lying if she said she didn't miss Korea.

But not enough to want to go back if it meant leaving Lyssel and Ether.

Nothing was more precious than the two of them.

That was when —

Pop went a sound up in the sky, and the fireworks Lady Bilson had promised began.

"Wowww…."

The kids were absolutely riveted by the spread of light across the sky.

So was Iberin.

"It's beautiful."

She tipped her head back and stared, smiling absently for a long while.

The other nobles were no different, but Lyssel couldn't take his eyes off Iberin — lit up in the light.

Iberin didn't seem to even feel the look on her. She watched the sky for a long time, and only turned to him once the fireworks had completely faded.